Mobile home air conditioning unit

ABSTRACT

A mobile home air conditioning unit having a mounting structure whereby the unit can be mounted in a mobile home with a base assembly oriented relative to the circulating air duct work and an outside air intake and with the unit casing and base assembly being constructed for mounting of the unit onto the base assembly in one of several different rotatively oriented positions as required for proper location and orientation of the unit in the mobile home. Additionally, when the unit is a furnace, a sealed burner box therefor carries a burner assembly and coacts with the base assembly and the furnace structure whereby the burner box can be interchanged simply, dependent upon use of gas or oil fuel by mounting of a burner box having the desired burner assembly.

I United States Patent [151 3,672,349 Derringer June 27, 1972 [54] MOBILE HOME AIR CONDITIONING UNIT Primary ExaminerCharles J. Myhre Alt -H f en, We e ,Alle ,Stell n & McC d [72] Inventor: Ray Derringer, Port Edwards, Wis. army 0 gr gn r n ma or [73] Assignee: Preway Inc. [5 7] ABSTRACT [22] Filed: Oct. 5, 1970 A mobile home air conditioning unit having a mounting structure whereby the unit can be mounted in a mobile home with a App! 77809 base assembly oriented relative to the circulating air duct work and an outside air intake and with the unit casing and [52] US. Cl ..126/l10 AA base assembly being constructed for mounting of the unit onto [5]] Int. Cl... ..F24I1 3/02 the base assembly in one of several different roraflvely Fidd Search 10 1 10 1 10 9 1 16 R, oriented positions as required for proper location and orienta- 126/116 B tion of the unit in the mobile home. Additionally, when the y unit is a furnace, a sealed burner box therefor carries a burner [56] Reierences and assembly and coacts with the base assembly and the furnace UNITED STATES PATENTS structure whereby the burner box can be interchanged simply, dependent upon use of gas or oil fuel by mounting of a burner 3,359,966 I2/I967 Thomas 126/1 10 AA box having [he desired burner assembly, 2,865,364 12/1958 Cutler ..l26/ll0 AA 3,283,753 1 1/1966 Bodett et al 1 26/1 10 AA 8 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUW 1972 SHEET 10F 2 MTENTEDJURZ? I872 3,672,348

MOBILE HOME AIR CONDITIONING UNIT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention pertains to mobile home air conditioning units and, more particularly, to such units as a furnace having interchangeability for use with either oil or gas fuel and providing for ease of installation wherein the base assembly can be mounted in one, specific, relation to the mobile home structure while still permitting different orientations of the furnace within the mobile home.

SUMMARY A mobile home air conditioning unit having a mounting structure enabling the supply of external combustion air from one external location with a base assembly thereof permitting different rotative positions of the unit on the base assembly whereby the unit has a predetermined relation to circulating air duct work beneath the floor of the mobile home and to the external air supply while the unit can still face in any one of a plurality of different directions as required by its location within the mobile home.

Another object of the invention is to provide a base assembly for the unit as defined in the preceding paragraph wherein a base member of the base assembly has a central opening to connect to the circulating air duct work for delivery of air from the unit thereto and wherein a continuous channel surrounds the opening, with a series of openings on the top of the channel whereby one of the openings connects the channel with an inlet to the unit, as determined by the orientation of the unit, with the other openings blocked by a bottom panel of the unit.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a mobile home furnace unit. wherein a sealed burner box carries a burner assembly which has a gun extending into the fire box of the furnace and wherein the burner box is sealed and is readily interchangeable whereby a burner box having the burner assembly required for either gas or oil can be used with the furnace simply by removal of one burner box and insertion of another.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 7 FIG. I is a central, verticalsection of the mobile home air conditioning unit disclosed as a furnace.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of abottom panel of the furnace and the base assembly on which the furnace is mounted; I

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of the lower part of FIG. I on an enlarged scale; and

FIG. 4 is a plan section, taken generally along the line 4-4 in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The mounting structure disclosed herein has utility for mounting of air conditioning units, generally, including air cooling units as well as furnaces and, therefore, the following description of mounting of a furnace can apply equally to mounting of an air cooling unit.

The mobile home furnace is shown in FIG. I and includes a casing having a back wall I0, a top wall 11, with a smoke collar 12 extending therethrough for connection to a flue, and a pair of side walls, one of which is identified at 15. The front wall includes a panel I6 having circulating air inlets provided by a filter mounted therein whereby air can be drawn into the casing by means of a blower (not shown) mounted in a housing 20 disposed within the casing. Air emitted from the blower housing 20 circulates about an economizer assembly 21 at the top of the casing which communicates with the heat exchange drum 22 by an extension 23. The air flows downwardly past the heat exchange drum 22 and exhausts through an opening at the bottom of the furnace, as shown by the arrows in FIG. I. This opening 25 is formed in structure to be described. The heat exchange drum 22 has a bottom wall 30 and supported on the bottom wall is a fire box 31 with combustion occurring within the fire box and the combustion products flowing upwardly through the drum and out the smoke collar 12.

The lower end of the furnace casing mounts, behind the front panel thereof, a sealed burner box 35 having a pivotal door 36 associated with enclosing sides and top and bottom walls of the burner box. An interior wall 37 of the burner box has a gun 38 extending therethrough, with this gun fitted into openings 39 and 40 in the wall of the heat exchange drum 22 and the fire box 31, respectively. The burner box 35 is releasably attached to an outwardly extending section 45 of the heat exchange drum 22 by a plurality of removable fasteners 46. With this construction, the burner box 35, carrying a burner assembly, indicated generally at 50 and having the gun 38 protruding through the front thereof, can be fitted into the casing, with the gun extended into the fire box 31. Fastening of the fastening members 46 holds the burner box in place. There can be two types of burner boxes, with one having the necessary burner assembly 50 for handling oil fuel and the other burner box having the necessary burner assembly for handling fuel. Dependent upon the fuel to be used, the burner box having the desired burner assembly can be fitted to the furnace to provide an extremely simple interchange, dependent upon use of either oil or gas fuel.

There are many different interior layouts for mobile homes and it is desirable to have one air conditioning unit usable in many different mobile home layouts, even though the requirements for orientation may vary. The unit may face either toward the rear, front or side of the mobile home and an important part of this invention is to provide a mounting structure for such a unit which enables the necessary connection at the base of the unit to be made in one particular manner while permitting varying orientations of the unit within the mobile home.

A mounting structure for the furnace is associated with the bottom panel of the furnace casing, shown particularly in FIGS. 2-4, wherein the back and sides of the bottom panel have upturned flanges 61, 62 and 63 for fastening to the rear and sides of the furnace casing and with the central opening 25 defined by a downturned flange 64 extending entirely around the substantially square-shaped opening 25. An upturned flange 65 provides a flange against which a wall of the burner box 35 abuts.

The base assembly of the mounting structure includes a base member, indicated generally at 70, and shown particularly in FIGS. 2 and 3, with an upstanding peripheral flange 7l spaced from a raised, downwardly-opening, continuous, multisided, channel surrounding an opening mating with the opening 25 in the bottom panel 60. This channel has a top wall 72 and spaced side walls 73 and 74. The channel opens toward the bottom of the base member and the bottom of the channel is closed off by a bottom plate 75 having the same peripheral dimensions as the base member 70. The bottom plate 75 has an opening with a surrounding flange 76 to receive the side wall 73 of the channel and an opening 80 therein, with an air inlet duct 81 secured to the underside of the bottom plate and in communication with the opening 80. The base assembly, including base member and bottom plate in assembled relation, is mounted in suitable cut-out openings in the floor of the mobile home, with the inlet duct 81 extended to the exterior of the mobile home for providing an outside combustion air inlet. The outlet 25 from the furnace bottom panel 60 communicates through the opening in the base assembly to a circulating air duct network, a portion of which is shown at 85 in FIG. 1, whereby air heated by the furnace can be delivered to the circulating system for the mobile home. As seen in FIG. 1, the air inlet duct 81 can only be in one position to avoid conflict with the duct 85 which normally extends lengthwise along the mobile home. Air for combustion entering the air inlet 81 can then flow through the opening in the bottom plate 75 into the channel formed in the base merfiber 70. This air is permitted to enter the burner box 35 in any of four different, rotatively oriented positions of the furnace as provided by a series of four, spaced-apart top openings 86 formed one along each side of the channel. Optionally, these openings can be covered by a series of knock-out panels 90, 91, 92 and 93. The selected opening 86 communicates with a matching opening 96 in the bottom panel 60 of the furnace and with an opening 97 in the bottom wall of the burner box 35. When the knock-out panels are not used, the openings 86 that are not operative are effectively sealed by the furnace bottom panel 60. If the furnace were turned to face toward the viewer of the drawing, the knock-out panel 92 would be removed to clear its opening 86 and the knock-out panel 93 would remain in the top wall 72 of the channel. This assures that outside air delivered to the channel will enter at the desired location into the burner box of the furnace. A base gasket 98 is fitted between the bottom panel 60 of the furnace casing and the base member 70 and has an opening therein to permit air to flow therethrough from the channel to the burner box.

The space between the channel wall 74 and the upstanding peripheral flange 71 of the base member 70 provides an unobstructed path for a fuel line which can be extended into this path through an opening 100 in the bottom of the base member 70 and then extend around in this path adjacent the channel. The fuel line extends through an opening 101 in the bottom panel 60 of the furnace and a similar opening of the burner box 35 for connection to the burner assembly 50.

With the structure disclosed herein, the base assembly can be mounted in a single position as required and the unit can be positioned in a desired orientation with supply of external air to the unit and with the base assembly further providing an unobstructed path for extension of an outside supply line from externally of the mobile home.

lclaim:

l. A mounting structure for a mobile home furnace enabling various installation orientations of the furnace while maintaining a predetermined exterior connection for combustion air comprising, a base assembly having a central opening to permit flow of heated air therethrough to a circulating air duct, a continuous channel extending around said opening, a combustion air inlet to the underside of said channel at one location along the length thereof, and a series of openings spaced apart along the length of and at the top of said channel whereby an opening from said channel communicates with an opening into the burner box of the furnace as determined by the orientation of the furnace relative to the mounting structure and with the remaining openings blocked by the furnace.

2. A mounting structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said base assembly includes a base member having said central opening, and said channel has the top and two sides thereof formed by parts of said base member, and a bottom plate carrying said combustion air inlet and fitted against said base member to form the bottom ofsaid channel.

3. A mounting structure as defined in claim 2 wherein said base member has an upturned peripheral flange spaced from said channel to define an unobstructed path therebetween for a fuel line from the mobile home exterior to the burner box and said openings are each covered by a knock-out panel.

4. A base assembly for mounting a mobile home air conditioning unit relative to circulating air ductwork and to an outside air inlet whereby the unit can have one of several different orientations without corresponding movements of said base assembly comprising: a base member having a generally square opening therethrough to provide a flow path for air from the unit to a duct beneath the base member, a downwardly opening raised channel surrounding said opening and having a top and opposed sides, a series of spaced-apart openings formed in said channel top whereby a selected one can connect the channel with the unit, a bottom panel of the unit blocking the other top openings from the channel; and a bottom plate having an opening coextensive with the opening in said base member and spanning said channel to form the bottom thereof and with an outside air inlet extending down from said plate to extend adjacent said duct and to the exterior of the mobile home.

5. A mobile home furnace and base assembly combination including a casing for the furnace having a bottom panel with an opening in line with an opening in a burner box mounted in said casing, said bottom panel having a passage for downflow of heated air from the furnace to a circulating duct, said base assembly including a base member having an opening coextensive with said passage and a closed multi-sided channel surrounding said opening, a combustion air inlet to said channel for supplying outside air for combustion, and a plurality of spaced-apart top openings from said channel, one opening being in line with said bottom panel opening whereby air can flow from said channel into said burner box and with the other openings closed ofi by the furnace bottom panel, whereby the base assembly can be mounted in one orientation relative to said circulating duct and the furnace mounted thereon in one of a plurality of different orientations.

6. A mobile home furnace as defined in claim 5 wherein said furnace has a heat exchange drum with a fire box mounted therein, a pair of aligned openings in the fire box and the wall of said drum to receive the gun of a burner assembly carried by said burner box, and means removably mounting the burner box in the furnace and to the drum whereby the burner assembly can be interchanged dependent upon use of gas or oil fuel by mounting ofa burner box having the desired burner assembly.

7. A mobile home furnace as defined in claim 5 wherein said base member has an upturned peripheral flange spaced from said channel to define a space therebetween for receiving a fuel line from a connection outside the mobile home, and another opening in said bottom plate overlying said space to permit insertion of the fuel line into the burner box.

8. A warm air furnace comprising, a casing, a drum body in said casing and spaced therefrom to provide space for flow of circulating air to be heated by said drum, a fire box mounted in the lower part of said drum, a pair of aligned openings in said fire box and wall of said drum body, a sealed burner box mounting a burner assembly with a gun extended through said openings and having a movable access door, air flow passage means terminating in an opening in a planar panel of the casing for supplying combustion air, an opening in a bottom wall of said sealed burner box communicating with said air flow passage means by positioning of the burner box bottom wall against said planar panel, and means removably mounting said burner box to said drum body whereby the furnace can utilize either gas or oil by simple interchange of a burner box carrying the appropriate burner assembly. 

1. A mounting structure for a mobile home furnace enabling various installation orientations of the furnace while maintaining a predetermined exterior connection for combustion air comprising, a base assembly having a central opening to permit flow of heated air therethrough to a circulating air duct, a continuous channel extending around said opening, a combustion air inlet to the underside of said channel at one location along the length thereof, and a series of openings spaced apart along the length of and at the top of said channel whereby an opening from said channel communicates with an opening into the burner box of the furnace as determined by the orientation of the furnace relative to the mounting structure and with the remaining openings blocked by the furnace.
 2. A mounting structure as defined in claim 1 wherein said base assembly includes a base member having said central opening, and said channel has the top and two sides thereof formed by parts of said base member, and a bottoM plate carrying said combustion air inlet and fitted against said base member to form the bottom of said channel.
 3. A mounting structure as defined in claim 2 wherein said base member has an upturned peripheral flange spaced from said channel to define an unobstructed path therebetween for a fuel line from the mobile home exterior to the burner box and said openings are each covered by a knock-out panel.
 4. A base assembly for mounting a mobile home air conditioning unit relative to circulating air ductwork and to an outside air inlet whereby the unit can have one of several different orientations without corresponding movements of said base assembly comprising: a base member having a generally square opening therethrough to provide a flow path for air from the unit to a duct beneath the base member, a downwardly opening raised channel surrounding said opening and having a top and opposed sides, a series of spaced-apart openings formed in said channel top whereby a selected one can connect the channel with the unit, a bottom panel of the unit blocking the other top openings from the channel; and a bottom plate having an opening coextensive with the opening in said base member and spanning said channel to form the bottom thereof and with an outside air inlet extending down from said plate to extend adjacent said duct and to the exterior of the mobile home.
 5. A mobile home furnace and base assembly combination including a casing for the furnace having a bottom panel with an opening in line with an opening in a burner box mounted in said casing, said bottom panel having a passage for downflow of heated air from the furnace to a circulating duct, said base assembly including a base member having an opening coextensive with said passage and a closed multi-sided channel surrounding said opening, a combustion air inlet to said channel for supplying outside air for combustion, and a plurality of spaced-apart top openings from said channel, one opening being in line with said bottom panel opening whereby air can flow from said channel into said burner box and with the other openings closed off by the furnace bottom panel, whereby the base assembly can be mounted in one orientation relative to said circulating duct and the furnace mounted thereon in one of a plurality of different orientations.
 6. A mobile home furnace as defined in claim 5 wherein said furnace has a heat exchange drum with a fire box mounted therein, a pair of aligned openings in the fire box and the wall of said drum to receive the gun of a burner assembly carried by said burner box, and means removably mounting the burner box in the furnace and to the drum whereby the burner assembly can be interchanged dependent upon use of gas or oil fuel by mounting of a burner box having the desired burner assembly.
 7. A mobile home furnace as defined in claim 5 wherein said base member has an upturned peripheral flange spaced from said channel to define a space therebetween for receiving a fuel line from a connection outside the mobile home, and another opening in said bottom plate overlying said space to permit insertion of the fuel line into the burner box.
 8. A warm air furnace comprising, a casing, a drum body in said casing and spaced therefrom to provide space for flow of circulating air to be heated by said drum, a fire box mounted in the lower part of said drum, a pair of aligned openings in said fire box and wall of said drum body, a sealed burner box mounting a burner assembly with a gun extended through said openings and having a movable access door, air flow passage means terminating in an opening in a planar panel of the casing for supplying combustion air, an opening in a bottom wall of said sealed burner box communicating with said air flow passage means by positioning of the burner box bottom wall against said planar panel, and means removably mounting said burner box to said drum body whereby the furnace can utilize either gas or oil by simple interchange of a burner box carrying thE appropriate burner assembly. 